#THE INDIAN RESERVE FORCES ACT, 1888 
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##ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS 
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###SECTION 

1. Title and commencement. 
2. Division of Reserve Forces into Regular and Supplementary Reserves. 
3. Locality of service of Reserves.
4. Power to make rules for regulation of Reserve Forces. 
5. Liability of Reserve Forces to military law. 
6. Punishment of certain offences by persons belonging to Reserve Forces. 
7. Reinstatement in civil employ of persons belonging to Reserve Forces on termination of periods of 
training, muster or Army services. 
8. Preservation of certain rights of persons belonging to Reserve Forces when called up for training, 
muster or army service.  

 
 
#THE INDIAN RESERVE FORCES ACT, 1888 

##ACT NO. 4 OF 1888 [^1]

[2nd March, 1888.] 

An Act to regulate the Indian Reserve Forces.

WHEREAS  it  is  expedient  to  provide for the Government, discipline and regulation of the Indian 
Reserve Fortes; It is hereby enacted as follows: — 

1. **Title and commencement.**—(1)  This  Act  may  be  called  the  Indian  Reserve  Forces  Act, 
1888; and 

(2) It shall come into force on such day as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official 
Gazette, appoint in this behalf.

2. **Division of Reserve Forces into Regular and Supplementary Reserves.**—The Indian 
Reserve Forces shall consist of the Regular Reserve and the Supplementary Reserve.

3. **Locality of service of Reserves.**— A person belonging to the Indian Reserve Forces shall 
be liable to serve beyond the limits of India as well as within those limits.

4. **Power  to  make  rules  for  regulation  of  Reserve  Forces.**—(1) The Central Government 
may by notification in the Official Gazette, make rules and orders for the government, discipline and 
regulation of the Indian Reserve Forces.

(2) Every rule and every order made under sub-section (1) shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is 
made, before each House of Parliament, while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days which may 
be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session 
immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both Houses agree in mating any 
modification in the rule or order or both Houses agree that the rule or order should not be made, the rule 
or order shall thereafter have effect only  in such  modified form or of  no effect, as the  case  may  be; so, 
however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything 
previously done under that rule or order.

5. **Liability of Reserve Forces to military law.**—Subject  to such  rules  and  orders  as 
may  be  made  under  section  4,  a  person  belonging  to  the  Indian  Reserve  Forces  shall,  as  an  officer,  or 
soldier,  as  the  case  may  be,  be  subject  to  military  law  in  the  same  manner  and  to  the  same  extent  as  a 
person belonging to the Regular Army.

[^1]. The Act has been extended to and brought into force in Dadra and Nagar Haveli by Reg. 6 of 1963. s. 2 and the First 
Schedule  (w.e.f.  1-7-1965):  Lakshadweep  by  Reg.  8  of  1965.  s.  3  and  the  Schedule  (w.e.f.  1-10-1967)  and  to 
Pondicherry by Reg. 7 of 1963, s. 3 and the First Schedule (w.e.f. 1-10-1963).
                                                    

6. **Punishment of certain offences by persons belonging to Reserve Forces.**—(1) If a person 
belonging to the Indian Reserve Forces— 

(a) when required by or in pursuance of any rule or order under this Act to attend at any place, fails 
without reasonable excuse to attend in accordance with such requirement, or 

(b) fails without reasonable excuse to comply with any such rule or order, or 

(c) fraudulently obtains any pay or other sum contrary to any such rule or order, he shall be liable— 

(i)  on  conviction  by  a  court-martial,  to  such  punishment  other  than  death,  transportation  or 
imprisonment  for  a  term  exceeding  one  year  as  such  Court  is  by  the Army  Act,  1950  (46  of 
1950) empowered to award, or 

(ii) on conviction by a Presidency Magistrate or a Magistrate  of  the  first  class,  to 
imprisonment for-a term which may extend, in the case of a first offence under this section, to six 
months, and, in the ease of any subsequent offence thereunder, to one year. 

(2) Where a person belonging to the Indian Reserve Forces is required by or in pursuance of any rule 
or order under this Act to attend at any place, a certificate purporting to be signed by an officer appointed 
by such a rule or order in this behalf, and stating that the person so required to attend failed to do so in 
accordance with such requirement, shall, without proof of the signature or appointment of such officer, he 
evidence of the matters stated therein. 

(3) Any  person  charged  with  an  offence  under  this  section  may  be  taken  into  and  kept  in  either 
military or civil custody, or partly into and in one description of custody and partly into and in the other, 
or be transferred from one description of custody to the other. 

7. **Reinstatement  in  civil  employ  of  persons  belonging  to  Reserve  Forces  on  termination  of 
periods of trailing, muster or Army service.**—(1) If a person belonging to the Indian Reserve Forces is, 
during the period of his employment under an employer, called up for training, muster or army service in 
pursuance  of  his  liability  under  any  rule  or  order  under  this  Act,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  every  such 
employer  to  reinstate  the  person  in  his  employment  on  the  termination  of  the  period  of  his  training, 
muster or army service in an occupation and under conditions not less favourable to him than those which 
would have been applicable to him had his employment not been so interrupted:

Provided that if the employer  refuses to reinstate such person or denies his liability to reinstate  such 
person,  or  if  for  any  reason  reinstatement  of  such  person  is  represented  by  the  employer  to  be 
impracticable, either  party  may  refer  the  matter  to the authority  prescribed in  this  behalf  by  rules  made 
under this Act, and that authority shall, after considering all matters which may be put before it and after 
making such further inquiry into the matter as may be prescribed in the said rules, pass an order— 

(a) exempting the employer from the provisions of this section, or 

(b) requiring the employer to re-employ such person on such terms as the authority thinks suitable, 

or 

(c) requiring the employer to pay to such person by way of compensation for failure or inability to 
re-employ, a sum not exceeding an amount equal to six months’ remuneration at the rate at which his 
last remuneration was payable to him by the employer.

(2)  If  any  employer  fails  to  obey  the  order  of  any  such  authority  as  is  referred  to  in  the 
proviso  to  sub-section  (1),  he  shall  be  punishable  with  fine  which  may  extend  to  one  thousand             
rupees,  and  the  court  by  which  an  employer  is  convicted  under  this  section  shall  order  him  (if  he                       
has  not  already  been  so  required  by  the  said  authority)  to  pay  to  the  person  whom  he  has                                  
failed  to  re-employ  a  sum  equal  to  six  months  remuneration  at  the  rate  at  which  his  last  remuneration 
was payable to him by the employer, and any amount so required to be paid either by the said authority or 
by the court shall be recoverable as if it were a fine imposed by such court. 

(3) In any proceeding under this section it shall be a defence for an employer to prove that the person 
formerly employed did not apply to the employer for reinstatement within a period of two months from 
the termination of the period of his training, muster or army service. 

(4)  The  duty  imposed  by  sub-section  (1)  upon  an  employer  to  reinstate  in  his  employment  a  person 
such  as  is  described in that  sub-section  shall  attach to an  employer  who,  before  such  person  is  actually 
called  up  for  training,  muster  or  army  service,  terminates  his  employment  in  circumstances  such  as  to 
indicate an intention to evade the duty imposed by that sub-section, and such intention shall be presumed 
until  the  contrary  is  proved,  if  the  termination  takes  place  after  the  issue  of  orders  calling  him  up  for 
training, muster or army service under this Act. 

8. **Preservation  of  certain  rights  of  persons  belonging  to  Reserve  Forces  when  called  up  for 
training, muster or army service.**—When any person belonging to the Indian Reserve Forces and called 
up for training, muster or army service in pursuance of his liability under any rule or order under this Act 
has  any  rights  under  any  provident  fund  or  superannuation  fund  or  other  scheme  for  the  benefit  of 
employees maintained in connection with the employment he relinquishes, he shall continue, so long as 
he is engaged in training, muster or army service and if he is reinstated, until such reinstatement under the 
provisions  of this Act,  to have  in  respect  of such  fund  or scheme,  such  rights as  may  be  prescribed  by 
rules made under this Act.